News and Press

Young people from less well-off backgrounds are more likely to pursue lower ranked upper-secondary qualifications than their prior attainment would suggest that they can achieve.
Recent research from Konstantina Maragkou (University of Sheffield and CVER) examines whether socio-economic inequalities exist in the academic match of students in upper-secondary education.

A recent study set out to explore how effective apprenticeships were at supporting students as they both learn new skills and make their way into the workplace. The researchers assess young people who completed their GCSE exams between 2003 and 2008. Nineteen percent of this cohort then went on to do an apprenticeship, with nearly all of them educated up to a maximum of either GCSE level (level 2) or A-level (level 3). The apprenticeships were either therefore intermediate (level 2) or advanced (level 3), therefore no higher or degree apprenticeships were analyzed.

Dr Chiara Cavaglia
Make Devolution is also affecting "education and skills", e.g. with the Adult Education Budget being managed locally form 2019/20. With this in mind, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Apprenticeships (@ApprenticeAPPG) organised a special session to discuss devolution, where we were invited to present findings from our recent study on the devolution of the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers (AGE). the most of devolution: a lesson from the apprenticeships grant.

Snippet: ...'s virtually impossible However good the advice they get is are trying to understand the make your way through that is extremely hard and Professor Sandra McNally runs the centre for vocational education research at the London school of economics agrees that the comp...

According to LSE research (from the Centre for Vocational Educational Research) apprentices are earning 20% more than the people who take the full-time college route, Lord Layard said in his contribution to the debate around apprenticeships, their value and the apprenticeship levy.

Snippet: ...ionally at the heart of most vocational courses, a major piece of research exclusively shared with Tes shows. The report by Andy Dickerson and Damon Morris, at the Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) at the London School of Economics, published today, sa...

Dr Stefan Speckesser from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, which conducted the analysis, said the study showed that some local areas were more successfully tackling the negative effects of disadvantage, which are unrelated to education success, on young peopleâ€™s school-to-work transitions. "From this point of view, the analysis of large data offers a great potential to see where local actors can achieve better outcomes and to learn from good practice," he said.

Disadvantaged children who qualify for free school meals are twice as likely to be out of work in later life than their better-off peers, and even when they get good qualifications at school the employment gap remains, according to research.[...]

Dr Stefan Speckesser from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, which conducted the analysis, said the study showed that some local areas were more successfully tackling the negative effects of disadvantage, which are unrelated to education success, on young people’s school-to-work transitions. “From this point of view, the analysis of large data offers a great potential to see where local actors can achieve better outcomes and to learn from good practice,” he said.

"I’ve had early sight of research released today that magnifies how the most disadvantaged young people in our country are held back because of recurring factors including where they were born and their parents’ income. The charity Impetus has had sight of years’ worth of Department for Education data which shows there is a lingering “opportunity gap” between children growing up on free school meals and their better-off peers.

Its analysis shows that young people who are eligible for free school meals in year 11 are twice as likely to end up out of work, full-time education or training than their wealthier peers. What’s more, there is an “employment gap” between the most disadvantaged and those who are not, at every qualification level right up to A level."

Snippet: ...es at non-Russell Group universities, new research shows. Researchers at the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) affiliated with the Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) - part of the London School of Economics - found that by the ...

This new report, undertaken jointly by the Centre for Vocational Education Research and the What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth provides a real life example of how these questions play out in practice by looking at the impact of devolution of the Apprenticeships Grants for Employers (AGE) to the local level through City Deals.

If you are in any doubt about the influence that the person leading a college has on its performance, look no further than a 2017 research paper by Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela, Camille Terrier and Clementine Van Effenterre (see references, page 53). The academics from the Centre for Vocational Education Research at the London School of Economics set out to quantify the importance of college principals.

Men are more likely to earn more after starting an apprenticeship than women, new research by the Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) shows.

The research, published by academics at the London School of Economics’ CVER, considered earnings data for around 565,000 students who left compulsory education in 2002-03, as well as the Labour Force Survey.

Authors Chiara Cavaglia, Guglielmo Ventura and Sandra McNally concluded that while most people do indeed gain from doing an apprenticeship, the extent of this gain varies significantly and depends very much on age and gender. Those with most to gain tend to be male, as well as those who start their apprenticeship at a younger age.

In the final episode of the current series of Policy Matters, hosts Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson talk to Sandra McNally, Professor of Economics at the University of Surrey and Director of the Centre for Vocational Education Research.

We should also worry about our rather odd exam system. To have high stakes national exams at the age of 16 — GCSEs — is relatively unusual by international standards. It is easy to understand their history: most young people used to leave school at 16, and some measure of attainment at that point made sense. Few now leave at 16. All are supposed to be in some form of education until they are 18. GCSEs have become just one more sorting mechanism. And as some recent work by economists at the London School of Economics has demonstrated, they sort in a way that can be really quite damaging. Using data on the precise marks that students got at GCSE English, the researchers were able to look at the impact of just getting a C grade as opposed to just missing a C grade — literally the impact of getting a single additional mark. The results are disturbing. Missing a C grade in English language by a tiny fraction decreases the probability of enrolling in a higher-level qualification by at least 9 percentage points, with a similar effect on the probability of getting A levels or equivalent by the age of 19. This in turn affects the chances of getting into university and of getting a job with decent progression prospects, and so on. All for the want of a single mark in a single exam aged 16.

Related publications

‘Entry through the narrow door: the costs of just failing high stakes exams’, Stephen Machin, Sandra McNally and Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela, CVER Discussion Paper No.014, April 2018

In the 'Year of Engineering', engineering skills are taking centre stage and the Skills Commission inquiry, which is co-chaired by Lucy Allan MP, Preet Gill MP and Professor Sandra McNally, is taking evidence as to why women are so badly under-represented within engineering courses, and whether upcoming skills system reforms will encourage more women to go into the profession.

A new study by IZA fellows Stephen Machin and Sandra McNally with Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela (all researchers at the London School of Economics) analyzes the benefits (or costs) for students who just pass (or fail) to meet a key threshold in these exams. More specifically, evidence is presented on the importance of just obtaining a grade C in GCSE English Language (which is the form of English exam undertaken by 72% of students in the cohort under study).

Pupils who narrowly fail to achieve a grade C in their GCSE English exam pay a high price, according to new research. A study from the Centre for Vocational Education Research explored what happened to young people who took the exam in 2013.Entry Through the Narrow Door: The Costs of Just Failing High Stakes Exams, was led by Stephen Machin, Sandra McNally and Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela. It used data to show that pupils of the same ability had significantly different educational trajectories depending on whether or not they just passed or failed.

If teachers and pupils weren’t under enough pressure in the run-up to GCSEs, new research has quantified the potentially life-changing impact missing a grade can have on a young person. According to a study by the Centre for Vocational Education Research, narrowly failing to achieve a grade C in English language decreases the probability of enrolling on a higher-level qualification by at least 9 percentage points by age 19.

Pupils who narrowly fail their English GCSE exams pay a high price, according to a new study by the Centre for Vocational Education Research at the London School of Economics. Researchers at the centre, which is funded by the Department for Education, tracked the progress of more than 49,000 pupils who took their English GCSE in 2013 and got a grade C or D. They looked at how the group fared over the next three years. Those who narrowly missed out on a pass by up to 10 points were more likely to end up dropping out of education and, therefore, at increased risk of poorer prospects in the long term, according to the report.

Article by Stephen Machin, Sandra McNally and Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela. New research by the Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) [CVER Discussion Paper 014] analyses the benefits (or costs) for students who just pass (or fail) to meet a key threshold in these exams. More specifically, evidence is presented on the importance of just obtaining a grade C in GCSE English Language (which is the form of English exam undertaken by 72% of students in the cohort under study).

Nudge-u-cation: Can behavioural science boost education and social mobility? Pro Bono Economics' Annual Lecture featuring Dr David Halpern, Professor Sandra McNally and Chris Brown. Over the last decade, governments across the world have begun to revise policy on the basis of more realistic and empirical models of human behaviour. This has led to improvements in employment, public health, tax collection, savings, energy conservation, giving, and reoffending outcomes. Often these improvements have been achieved at dramatically lower cost than through conventional policy levers. Behavioural approaches have also helped encourage the much wider use of experimental methods – notably the randomised control trial – in routine policymaking. In the UK, this empiricism has found expression in the ‘What Works’ movement and network, including the creation of independent What Works centres covering education, crime, early intervention, local economic growth, well-being, better ageing and, most recently, youth social work. This talk will explore the breadth, depth and potential of this movement. It will dig into the area of education and social mobility as an example of the power and cutting edge of this approach, as well as rehearsing some of the key barriers that remain to its even greater impact. We are delighted to feature David Halpern, CEO of the Behavioural Insights Team as well as prominent figures from the education sphere to discuss the rise of behavioural and experimental techniques in education policy.

Research finds that there's a strong case for providing apprenticeship to young people, write Chiara Cavaglia, Sandra McNally and Guglielmo Ventura. Is there an earnings differential for starting an apprenticeship over and above the pay of young people who have already had a full-time school or college-based education? Our research looks at people who finished their GCSE exams in 2003 and who were therefore 28 years of age in 2015. We use administrative data to follow them from 2003 through their education and into the labour market.

Related publications

‘Apprenticeships for Young People in England: Is there a Payoff?’, Chiara Cavaglia, Sandra McNally and Guglielmo Ventura, Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) Discussion Paper No. 10, November 2017

New research reports from the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) at the London School of Economics are highlighted in the Spring 2018 CentrePiece magazine. Among the findings: APPRENTICESHIPS: High potential payoffs but variation by subject specialism; BREXIT: Leave vote benefited from feelings of social and economic exclusion ; HOUSING: Planning policy creates more empty homes and longer commutes; FAMILY FIRMS: The weak management practices of second-generation bosses; PRE-SCHOOL: Free entitlement to early education has failed to deliver benefits; ITALIAN PRODUCTIVITY: Long-lasting stagnation in Europe’s ‘sleeping beauty’; LOCAL LABOUR MARKETS: Tools for analysing effects of place-based policies; LOST EINSTEINS: American evidence on who grows up to be an inventor.

Related publications

‘Apprenticeships for Young People in England: Is there a Payoff?’, Chiara Cavaglia, Sandra McNally and Guglielmo Ventura, Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) Discussion Paper No. 10, November 2017

Ahead of National Apprenticeship Week, members of the House of Lords demanded an explanation for the alarming drop in apprenticeship starts following the introduction of the levy. Members of the House of Lords discussed the alarming drop in apprenticeship starts at a select committee on 27 February, concluding that the first year of the apprenticeship levy has been “woefully inadequate.” The number of people embarking on apprenticeships fell by 35% in November 2017; and has plunged 60% since the levy was introduced. Lord Forsyth of Drumlean was keen to know why a significant portion of levy money was spent on existing employees, rather than attracting new recruits. “Only 43% of employees on a level two or three apprenticeship were aware they were doing an apprenticeship!” he said. “Was the levy really designed to send senior people on MBA courses? Perhaps I’m being naive, but I didn’t think that was its purpose!” Dr Hilary Steedman, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics, explained, “It’s easier for providers who are struggling to recruit apprentices to offer apprenticeships to employees already in place.”

Dr Hilary Steedman, senior research fellow at the Centre for Economic Performance, described the fall in starts as “worrying, but not surprising”, and called on the government to abandon its target of reaching three million apprenticeship starts by 2020, saying the focus should be on quality rather than quantity. ”While we don’t want opportunities for young people to be restricted in any way, some young people on apprenticeships are not being well-served, and they deserve better,” she said.

The Centre for Vocational Educational Research had its mid-term review at the beginning of this year. After an initial £3 million grant from the Department for Education in May 2015, and there had been speculation about its long term prospects. It has now been given an extra £2 million to continue until the end of the decade, and has some stirring projects up its sleeve. These include evaluations on FE’s role in increasing social mobility, and the impact of university technical colleges. Its work on the apprenticeship levy, however, is likely to bring the most interest. After gaining recent approval from its steering group, CVER has started planning a major evaluation of the policy, which came into effect last April. “The focus of the work on the apprenticeship levy will be on its effect on training outcomes, overall and by sector,” said Dr Sandra McNally, who leads the centre.

The Federation of Master Builders reports that “skyrocketing” skill shortages mean that there are not enough workers available in all the key construction skills. The Black Country Chamber of Commerce says that skill shortages have reached “critical” levels; they are high in manufacturing and have never been higher in services. The CBI said yesterday that, for manufacturers, more companies cited skills shortages as a factor restricting output than at any time over the past four decades. Research for the National Institute of Economic and Social Research shows why we should be concerned. The research, in collaboration with the Centre for Vocational Education Research, shows a worrying decline in the proportion of employed people undergoing training. Over the past ten to twelve years, the proportion of workers who have undertaken learning activities in the previous thirteen weeks has dropped from nearly a third to just over a quarter. The duration of training activities has fallen, too, and is typically less than a week.

The Federation of Master Builders reports that “skyrocketing” skill shortages mean that there are not enough workers available in all the key construction skills. The Black Country Chamber of Commerce says that skill shortages have reached “critical” levels; they are high in manufacturing and have never been higher in services. The CBI said yesterday that, for manufacturers, more companies cited skills shortages as a factor restricting output than at any time over the past four decades. Research for the National Institute of Economic and Social Research shows why we should be concerned. The research, in collaboration with the Centre for Vocational Education Research, shows a worrying decline in the proportion of employed people undergoing training. Over the past ten to twelve years, the proportion of workers who have undertaken learning activities in the previous thirteen weeks has dropped from nearly a third to just over a quarter. The duration of training activities has fallen, too, and is typically less than a week.

College leaders' effectiveness 'seems unrelated to their salary', according to the Centre for Vocational Education Research. Better principals make a positive difference to their student’s educational outcomes, research by the Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) at the London School of Economics and Political Science has found. But while the research found that "leadership does make a clear difference to learner performance", it also suggests that "principals’ effectiveness seems unrelated to their salary". It did, however, find that the best-performing principals employed a higher proportion of female staff and staff on permanent contracts – and tended to pay their teaching staff more.

Principal quality matters for educational performance, argue researchers from the Centre for Vocational Education Research. The past 20 years have witnessed a large increase in research about the role of chief executive officers in the management of firms, although much less is known about the effectiveness of CEOs in the public sector. A better understanding of what makes good public-sector managers is crucial to better inform decisions on leadership and management in key public services such as health, transport and education.

The paper published at the London School of Economics is the result of an international collaboration between Hilary Steedman (former member of BIBB's scientific advisory board) and researchers from BIBB.

CVER's Hilary Steedman and colleagues have been looking at training in one area of the automotive sector Car Service is central to the supply chain of the wider automotive sector, identified as a leading performer in the UK government’s 2017 Industrial Strategy. We asked Car Service employers in Germany, UK and Spain about skill shortages and their experience of training apprentices in the workplace. Car Service technicians are trained in apprenticeship in Germany and the UK. The UK Advanced Apprenticeship and German 3-year Apprenticeship aim for a similar set of standards. In Spain, technicians are trained in full-time College courses which include a short period of work experience. In all three countries most firms are small.

CVER's Hilary Steedman and colleagues have been looking at training in one area of the automotive sector. Car Service is central to the supply chain of the wider automotive sector, identified as a leading performer in the UK government’s 2017 Industrial Strategy. We asked Car Service employers in Germany, UK and Spain about skill shortages and their experience of training apprentices in the workplace. Car Service technicians are trained in apprenticeship in Germany and the UK. The UK Advanced Apprenticeship and German 3-year Apprenticeship aim for a similar set of standards. In Spain, technicians are trained in full-time College courses which include a short period of work experience. In all three countries most firms are small. Using both case study and survey evidence we found that German and UK firms report high levels of satisfaction with apprentices’ practical and theoretical skills. Spanish firms found that the short work placement did not develop the practical competences needed but used the work placement to screen trainees for employment.

Related publications

‘Building apprentices’ skills in the workplace: Car Service in Germany, the UK and Spain’, by Philipp Grollmann, Hilary Steedman, Anika Jansen and Robert Gray", CVER Research Paper 011, December 2017

Disadvantaged young people are substantially less likely than their better-off peers to start the best apprenticeships, according to new research published by the Sutton Trust. Just seven per cent of young men and 11 percent of young women who were eligible for free school meals take up an apprenticeship at Level 3– A-level standard – much less than 14 per cent in the cohort as a whole. Better Apprenticeships draws on research by teams from the Centre for Vocational Education Research at LSE and UCL Institute of Education to analyse the current state of play for apprenticeships in England. The Sutton Trust wants to see any young person who starts on a level 2 apprenticeship – GCSE standard – automatically progressing to level 3. It also wants to ensure that all apprenticeships are of high quality, with many more higher and degree level apprenticeships available for young people.

Responding to the Sutton Trust's 'Better Apprenticeships' report, UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'It's increasingly clear that the government's pursuit of its three million apprenticeship target is coming at the expense of quality and choice within the system, and that this is having a real impact on outcomes for young people in particular. 'Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach which incentivises businesses to push existing employees into apprenticeships, the government should expand the apprenticeship levy to include other forms of high-quality workforce training. 'Most importantly, we urgently need the long-awaited careers strategy to ensure that learners of all ages are well supported to understand their options and progress in their learning.'

Responding to the Sutton Trust's 'Better Apprenticeships' report, UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'It's increasingly clear that the government's pursuit of its three million apprenticeship target is coming at the expense of quality and choice within the system, and that this is having a real impact on outcomes for young people in particular. 'Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach which incentivises businesses to push existing employees into apprenticeships, the government should expand the apprenticeship levy to include other forms of high-quality workforce training. 'Most importantly, we urgently need the long-awaited careers strategy to ensure that learners of all ages are well supported to understand their options and progress in their learning.'

As our latest research shows, disadvantaged young people are less likely to enter the best apprenticeships than their better-off peers. We’ve also found concerning gender gaps, with female apprentices concentrated in sectors with low earnings after completion. These inequities need to be addressed, with better guidance for all young people. This should emphasise the benefits of apprenticeships and should be communicated more widely in schools. The Sutton Trust will be campaigning through 2018 so that in future anyone completing level two should automatically progress to level three, unless they opt out. The focus on apprenticeship starts rather than overall apprentice numbers, and quality, in the government target does a disservice to young people at present.

Better Apprenticeships draws on research by teams from the UCL Institute of Education and the Centre for Vocational Education Research at LSE to analyse the current state of play for apprenticeships in England. ‘Apprenticeship quality and social mobility’, authored by Alison Fuller & Laura Unwin from the UCL Institute of Education, analyses whether sufficient quality indicators are in place to facilitate social mobility for young people (aged 16-24) through apprenticeships. It also provides an analytical framework to support quality improvement through a more ‘expansive’ approach. This is followed by ‘Apprenticeships for young people in England: Is there a payoff?’, from the LSECentre for Vocational Education Research, which draws on a new analysis that tracks 565,000 young people age 16 to 28, examining inequities in access and labour market outcomes. Authored by Chiara Cavaglia, Sandra McNally and Guglielmo Ventura, the report asks whether there is an earnings differential from starting an apprenticeship for young people, whilst looking closely at the stark gender difference in earnings payoffs.

....And then, among apprenticeships for young people, 60 per cent of places are at intermediate level. New analysis by Sandra McNally for today’s report, of the experience of those aged 16 in 2003 who subsequently embarked on apprenticeships, suggests that fewer than one in four of those who start a level 2 apprenticeship progress to level 3....

"Disadvantaged youngsters are less likely than their better-off peers to start the best apprenticeships, a new study reveals.

Research published by the Sutton Trust showed that seven per cent of young men and 11 per cent of young women who were eligible for free school meals take up a Higher-standard apprenticeship, compared to 14 per cent as a whole.

..The research was conducted by the Centre for Vocational Education Research at LSE and UCL Institute of Education."

The segmentation of apprenticeship by level puts an artificial break on progression, according to a new report commissioned by the Sutton Trust.

The report, entitled Better Apprenticeships – Access, quality and labour market outcomes in the English apprenticeship system, published today, concludes that there is "no expectation that apprenticeship will enable progression to the next occupational or educational level".

When the Industrial Strategy was up for consultation earlier in the year, my colleagues in the Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) and I emphasised the importance of well-targeted Active Labour Market Policies (ALMP) to help with the re-training and upskilling in an economy increasingly affected by structural changes.

The work of the Centre for Vocational Education Research was referred to by Lord Bhattacharyya (Lab) who is Professor of Manufacturing, Director and Chairman at the Warwick Manufacturing Group at Warwick University. Lord Bhattacharyya's contribution to the debate spoke of research that shows that the percentage of adult employees in learning or training has been falling since the millennium.

With the UK’s poor economic forecast doing few favours to the skills budget, government must ensure it’s putting money into policies that will actually raise overall productivity, argues Sandra McNally.

....It is also crucial that the issue of access is tackled. As our latest research shows, disadvantaged young people are less likely to enter the best apprenticeships than their better-off peers. We’ve also found concerning gender gaps, with female apprentices concentrated in sectors with low earnings after completion. These inequities need to be addressed, with better guidance for all young people. This should emphasise the benefits of apprenticeships and should be communicated more widely in schools...

Two research centres have also been established in recent years, looking specifically at post-16 education and training: the Centre for Vocational Education Research at the London School of Economics, and the Post-14 Education and Work Centre at the University College London Institute of Education, both founded in 2015.

The reforms are good ones, but the reformers have their priorities wrong. For too long ministers have focused on the country’s highest-achieving pupils. They should now pay attention to everyone else. Only about a third of 18-year-olds go to university; for the rest the road from education to work is uncertain and full of potholes.

The UK’s productivity suffered a shock in 2008 from which it has not recovered, and the ‘skills problem’ needs to be addressed. Within the context of a broader industrial strategy, improving skills is part of the solution – but Brexit may well harm these efforts if the feared negative economic effects put additional pressure on public finances. Likewise, Brexit will not help if prolonged uncertainty discourages employer investment in skills; nor if employers substitute capital for labour as a response to migration barriers. However, Brexit does do is bring the skills problem into sharper focus.

According to Sandra McNally, professor of economics at Surrey University, the Conservatives’ figures are misleading. This is because the “per pupil figure” was frozen from 2010 to 2011 and again from 2015 to 2016.

She argues that an increase in the core funding for schools is not the same as an increase in the amount per pupil. A freeze in cash terms is likely to result in a reduction in real terms of 6.5 per cent between 2010 and 2020. This reduction has not happened yet and school funding has doubled in the last 20 years

It is well known and acknowledged in the government’s Industrial Strategy that Britain has a skills problem: ‘We have a shortage of technical-level skills and rank 16th out of 20 countries for the proportion of people with technical qualifications’. As the Green Paper also says, ‘a bewildering complex array of qualifications, some of which are poor quality, makes the system hard to use for students and employers’. This shortage of ‘technical level skills’ is important because it impacts on economic growth, inequality and social mobility. It also affects a lot of people. Well over half of young people do not do A-levels each year. Furthermore, only about 35-40% of a typical cohort finishing their GCSEs can expect to go to university. The shortage of ‘technical skills’ mainly needs to be supplied by those who choose non-academic pathways. This is a major educational issue and all parties should be addressing it in their manifestos.

Trails for the Chancellor’s budget speech on Wednesday promise big new plans for technical education in England. Professor Sandra McNally of the Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) at the London School of Economics, who is available for comment on the proposals, summarises the evidence and her view of what reforms are needed.

The government is refusing to say whether more funding will be given to two “pioneering” FE research centres after their start-up grants end shortly.

Meanwhile, the Centre for Vocational Education Research is beginning to publish its own projects after being given a £3 million government grant in May 2015. Dr Sandra McNally leads the centre, and said that in the two years it has been running, her team has focused on “huge administrative data”, such as individual learner records, the national pupil database and longitudinal education outcomes data, in an attempt to process, code and apply it to their research.

Dr Hilary Steedman, senior research fellow at The London School of Economics, speaking on the BBC’s Today programme, said: “I think the IFS has really overstated their case here. We have a really serious skills problem in this country and we need to raise skills through apprenticeships in order to promote economic growth and improve our productivity levels, which are dire compared to Europe.”

Pupils make substantially more progress in literacy if they follow a pen-and-paper course than if they take a similar programme online, new research has found. Researchers working with pupils in 51 primary schools found that those following a paper-based literacy programme made 50 per cent more progress than those doing an identical course on a computer. ... Dr Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela, an education researcher at the London School of Economics, who carried out the study for the Education Endowment Foundation, believes that it is not the medium of instruction that makes the difference. Instead, it is the teaching that goes along with it. ''In general, research finds very mixed results about the use of technology in school,'' she said. "There are studies that haven't found very big effects from the use of ICT in learning.

This article was published by The Times Educational Supplement on October 28, 2016
Link to article here

Impact on academia
While technology has disrupted the educational system across the world, and with tablets and laptops replacing physical text books and the entire teaching and learning experience, smartphones remain to be the most controversial aspect in this regard.
Research conducted by Louis-Philippe Beland and Richard Murphy, and published by the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics, found that banning mobile phones from school premises adds up to the equivalence of an additional week of schooling for a pupil's academic year.

This article was published online by AMEinfo.com on October 9, 2016
Link to article here

There have been major changes to Ireland's apprenticeship system over the past few years, and now the overall number of apprentices is expected to increase to about 10,700. And, although Ireland's apprenticeship system is undergoing a much-needed and radical overhaul, to bring in more numbers, the old system couldn't exactly be described as broken. A 2010 report from researchers at the London School of Economics said that ''the duration and standard of apprenticeship training in Ireland is similar to the best European provision and intended to facilitate recognition as skilled craftsmen/women in other EU states''.

This article was published online by The Irish Times on September 13, 2016
Link to article here

Prime minister champions grammar system but critics argue reforms will damage social mobility
But critics were quick to dismiss the reforms. Professor Sandra McNally, director of education and skills at the London School of Economics' Centre for Economic Performance, said: ''Tests at age 11 are strongly associated with family income,'' she added. ''This change will probably increase social segregation.''

This article was published online by the Financial Times on September 9, 2016
Link to article here

The average cost of full-time childcare across the UK for a child under the age of two is £217.57 a week. Part-time care (25 hours, as opposed to the full 50) costs £116.77 a week. Assuming both parents work full-time and get 25 days holiday a year, the average annual bill for 47 weeks of full-time childcare is just over
£10,200 and for part-time is close to £5,500. It's hardly surprising then that working mums in lower-paid jobs are being forced to substantially cut their hours or give up work altogether after having a second child, according to a new study from the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics.

This article was published online by This is Money.co.uk on August 23, 2016
Link to article here

Thousands of 16-year-olds are stuck in an educational ''revolving door'', returning year after year to study low-level qualifications, a major new study has found.
The Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) at the London School of Economics tracked a cohort of 575,000 teenagers for four years to find out what progress they made after GCSEs. The researchers' findings were stark: among the learners who sat GCSEs at the age of 16 in 2009-10, about 10,000 were found to be working towards low-level qualifications for four consecutive years.

This article was published by the Times Educational Supplement (TES) on August 19, 2016
Link to article here

New initiatives planned to end 'unacceptable and unlawful' discrimination against working women
Employers are being told to do more to help mothers breastfeed their babies at work, as part of the government's latest initiative to tackle workplace discrimination against pregnant women and new mothers.
The government's plans aim to encourage organisations to take ''a more progressive approach'' towards female staff who return to their jobs after having children, such as by providing private spaces for breastfeeding mothers to express and store their milk, and places where they can feed their babies while at work. ... In a letter to MPs, James said she wanted pregnant women, mothers and ''all women'' to be able to work ''if they choose to do so''.
Her comments follow a study released last week by the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics, which found that most mothers in low-skilled jobs were forced to give up work after the birth of their second child.

This article was published online by CIPD on August 15, 2016
Link to article here

Working mothers in low-skilled jobs are being forced to either considerably reduce their hours or give up work altogether after having a second child, according to a wide-ranging study that suggests lack of access to childcare has a profound effect on the labour market.
While having one child has a relatively limited effect on workforce participation, women in low-skilled jobs reduced the amount they worked each week by an average of 18 hours after the arrival of their second child, according to the study from the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics (LSE).

This article was published online by CIPD on August 8, 2016
Link to article here

The addition of a second child can put families under serious financial strain - and in the case of women on the lowest incomes - convince them to give up work altogether in the face of rising childcare costs, a new study has found. Economists Claudia Hupkau and Marion Leturcq compared women in skilled and low-skilled jobs before the birth of their first child and again after their second.

This article was published online by the Daily Mail on August 7, 2016
Link to article here

A new study finds that, while the addition of a second child has little effect on the working hours of mothers in skilled jobs, it has a substantial and negative effect on low-skilled women who are forced to reduce their hours considerably or even give up their jobs altogether. The findings reinforce the view that there is a shortage of affordable childcare in the UK, despite successive government attempts to help women into work in recent years.
The study, by the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics, to be presented at this month's annual congress of the European Economic Association in Geneva, examined a group of 3,000 women in the UK aged between 20 and 36 who had their first child between 2000 and 2001.

This article was published by the Guardian on August 6, 2016
Link to article here

Article by John Denham
For the past 20 years and longer, Ministers of all parties have wanted to see more employers support employees and apprentices to gain higher levels skills and higher education. With strong bi-partisan support in a relatively non-ideological area of policy it seems odd that employer supported higher skills have not become a more important part of the skills and education system.
In a recent short project for the Institute of Public Affairs I wanted to examine why public policy had apparently failed. I have an interest: I was Secretary of State at the Department for Innovation and Skills from 2007 to 2009 and, more recently, had proposed radical reforms to higher education finance that depended heavily on the expansion of employer supported degrees.

This article was published on the Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) blog on August 3, 2016
Link to article here

Article by CVER Director, Sandra McNally, on some of the recommendations of the recent Sainsbury Report
The incoming British prime minister Theresa May has outlined a vision of a country that ''works not for the privileged few but that works for every one of us ... because we're going to give people control over their lives''. A good place for her to start would be to make sure that the government sticks to its promise to implement the 34 recommendations set out in a new report that aims to radically simplify the education choices available for people after age 16.
The Sainsbury report, published on July 8, sets out a blueprint for technical education for young people and adults. The report is wide-ranging and ambitious, with recommendations that cover many aspects of the way education is provided. The government's Post-16 Skills Plan, published on the same day, says the Sainsbury recommendation will be accepted ''unequivocally where that is possible within existing budgets''.

This article was published on the Centre for Vocational Education (CVER) blog on July 15, 2016
Link to article here

Article by Sandra McNally, Director of the Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER), LSE and Head of Education and Skills Programme, CEP
The incoming British prime minister Theresa May has outlined a vision of a country that works not for the privileged few but that ''works for every one of us ... because we're going to give people control over their lives''. A good place for her to start would be to make sure that the government sticks to its promise to implement the 34 recommendations set out in a new report that aims to radically simplify the education choices available for people after age 16. ... Nowhere is reform more necessary than in the options for 16-year-olds, after they finish their GCSE exams, as my colleagues and I have outlined in a new paper. As it currently stands, the system is obtuse - even for us ''experts''.

This article was published by The Conversation blog on July 13, 2016
Link to article here

Post-16 education and training is still socially and academically divided, research shows
Thousands of 16 year-olds are stuck in an educational ‘revolving
door,’ returning year after year to study low-level qualifications. And apprenticeships are still failing to attract sufficient numbers of better-off, better-qualified applicants, according to
research
published today from the Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) at the London School of Economics.

A generation of young, 'middle achievers' are being left behind by the Government because they do not go to university, a damning report has claimed. Most youngsters - 53% - do not go on to university or do A levels, yet their needs are often ignored by the Government, a Lords committee has concluded. This 'missing middle' of youngsters who take up jobs or vocational education are allowed to drift through life. They are often given poor career advice and locked into low paid jobs, the House of Lords committee on social mobility warned.

This article was published online by The Daily Mail on April 8, 2016
Link to article here

Related publications
House of Lords Select Committee on Social Mobility Report of Session 2015-16. 'Overlooked and Left Behind: improving the transition from school to work for the majority of young people' (PDF)Key suggestions from oral witnesses include those from Professor Sandra McNally, Director of CVER.
Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER), LSE written evidence: Response to the House of Lords Call for Evidence on ''Transitions from School to Work''

53% of young people do not follow the 'traditional' academic route into work. This majority of young people are significantly overlooked in their transition for work by the education system and the focus on apprenticeships is not suitable for everyone, the House of Lords Select Committee on Social Mobility has found.

This article was published on the www.parliament.uk website on April 8, 2016
Link to the article here

Related publications
House of Lords Select Committee on Social Mobility Report of Session 2015-16. 'Overlooked and Left Behind: improving the transition from school to work for the majority of young people' (PDF)Key suggestions from oral witnesses include those from Professor Sandra McNally, Director of CVER.
Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER), LSE written evidence: Response to the House of Lords Call for Evidence on ''Transitions from School to Work''

The Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) at the London School of Economics (LSE) is holding a conference on the economics of vocational education and training on 5-6 September 2016. Keynote speakers include Professor Eric Maurin (Paris School of Economics), Professor Sarah Turner (University of Virginia), and Professor Stefan Wolter (University of Berne).

We would like to invite papers on any aspect of the economics of vocational education and training. Please submit a full paper or an extended abstract by 30 April 2016 to cver@lse.ac.uk.

The conference will be held in London and will be free to attend but no funds are available for accommodation/travel. The conference will be relatively small and we expect to be over-subscribed. Full papers are preferred over extended abstracts. Decisions will be made soon after the deadline.

Report Launch - Building Skills for All

Review of England

On 28 January 2016 we hosted the launch of the OECD report on adult skills in England, Building Skills
for All, Review of England.

In England there are around nine million people with low literacy or numeracy skills or both. These nine million people might, for example, struggle to estimate how much petrol is left in the petrol tank from a sight of the gauge, or not be able to fully understand instructions on a bottle of aspirin. While basic skills of older people in England compare reasonably well with skills of their counterparts in other countries, younger people are lagging badly behind. This report was commissioned to offer an independent assessment of what could be behind these issues and to recommend some potential policy solutions.

On 18 November, representatives from the Centre for Vocational
Education Research gave evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on
Social Mobility, as part of its inquiry into the transition from school to work
for 14-24 year olds, with a focus on those young people who fall between the
route of A-Levels and Higher Education and those classified as ‘not in
education, employment or training’ (NEET).

CVER Director, Professor Sandra McNally, and Dr Stefan Speckesser,
Chief Economist from the Institute for Employment Studies and member of the CVER
consortium, took part in an evidence session on the use of data, its strengths
and limitations, as well as the accessibility of relevant data. The complexities
of vocational education data were described, and the need for merged data to
gain better understanding of people’s participation in education and the labour
market. The importance of generating administrative linked data as efficiently
as possible across government departments was emphasised, as this would allow
greater analysis of the education pathways and subsequent trajectories of young
people in a far more contemporary setting.
A transcript of the session is available online.

A third FE research centre has launched just a year after Professor Lady Alison Wolf decried how the sector was ''woefully short of good, up-to-date research''. ... The work of the new centre, said Mr Grainger, would complement that of other sector organisations involved in research, including the Further Education Trust for Leadership (Fetl) and the Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER). Meanwhile, a fourth research body remains in the planning stages at the Education and Training Foundation (ETF).

This article was published online by FE Week on October 5, 2015
Link to article here

We already have two sets of pioneering work being undertaken in the UK to address this very problem. One is the JPMorgan Foundation funded work at the Institute of Public Policy Research working with US business Burning Glass; while the second is the creative use of the US data set O*NET by researchers at the Centre for Vocational Education Research, based at the London School of Economics and funded by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills.

This article was published in the Financial Times on September 30, 2015
Link to article here

The Centre for Vocational Education Research's Claudia Hupkau looks at what can be learnt from past apprentices growth for the government's 3 million apprenticeship target.
With GCSE results recently out, many students are now facing the decision of whether to do A-levels or whether to opt for different types of further education, for instance an apprenticeship or a college course. Given the recent efforts of the government to encourage firms to increase the number of apprenticeships for young people, they are set to become an ever more relevant option for those recently out of school. The government has set itself a target of 3 million new apprenticeships over this parliament. Measures have been taken to help secure the funding of these 3 million new places via a new apprenticeship levy (see a commentary by Hilary Steedmanhere). How firms will be encouraged to actually create those places is a question that is yet to be answered.

This article was published on the Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) blog on September 1, 2015
Link to article here

The Minister of State for Skills, Nick Boles MP, hosted a Ministerial Seminar on Professional and Technical Education Routes, jointly organised by the Centre for Vocational Education Research and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on 9 July.

Experts were asked to share their vision of what an education system that can deliver high quality professional and technical skills at intermediate and higher levels should look like. Andreas Schleicher, OECD Head of Education and Skills, introduced the meeting with an overview of the state of the English intermediate skills and education compared to other OECD countries (View his presentation).
Delegates were invited to address the following broad question, which was then the focus of discussion at the seminar (conducted under 'Chatham House' rules):

What should we do to address the issues that face technical and professional education in this country? Including:

What provision (e.g. curriculum and qualifications) is needed to deliver high-quality technical and professional education, and why?

Which providers (e.g. schools, colleges, universities, independent training providers) are needed to deliver high-quality technical and professional education, and why?

How do we ensure that there are clear and coherent routes from initial skills development to the most advanced technical and professional training?

Article by Sandra McNally
From this September, all pupils at secondary school will have to study English, a language, maths, science and history or geography at GCSE. This is the English Baccalaureate, or Ebacc, which education minister Nicky Morgan has insisted are core academic subjects that should be taken by all children. The director of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), John Cridland, does not approve: he has called for GCSEs to be phased out and replaced with an exam system that gives equal value to vocational subjects.

This article was published by The Conversation online on June 23, 2015
Link to article here

The new aims and role of the Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) has become clearer since a consultation event this month, as Andrew Morris explains.
The new Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER), funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) was the focus of attention at a major gathering of college leaders and researchers this month. Directed by Professor Sandra McNally of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics, the new research centre will be developing much needed evidence aimed at improving the delivery of vocational programmes and involvement of employers. A clearer picture of routes to employment and better information about their value should be the result.

This article was published by FE Week on June 22, 2015
Link to article here

Sandra McNally introduced the Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) at the Learning and Skills Research Network (LSRN) Strategic Workshop held in London on June 3rd 2015. The Network brings together those interested in research on vocational education and training (VET) and is an excellent platform for networking between practitioners, researchers and policy makers. The workshop was an opportunity to learn about the work of the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning and the Education Training Foundation (a presentation was given by Richard Atkins, Principal at Exeter College, and Jenny Williams, Director of Vocational Education and Training, ETF).

During the discussion following Sandra's presentation, several priorities for CVER were highlighted by participants. These include the following:

The need to get a better understanding of the VET sector in England as a whole, describing the different actors that are involved (the individuals that participate, the institutions that provide training and the employers who engage staff in training) and the different paths taken by learners.

The need to look beyond earnings when measuring success of vocational education and training, for instance by evaluating the impact of VET on social mobility and wellbeing more generally.

Understanding the role employers might play in informing research and the importance of gaining a better understanding of the benefits of VET to employers and society at large. Such research is necessary in order to be able to get more firms interested in engaging in training and hiring apprentices.

Data quality and completeness were a concern to many participants, and strategies to overcome those limitations were discussed.
CVER is pursuing a three year research agenda, which is scrutinised by our Steering Group, and is a dynamic process. Events like the LSRN Strategic Workshop enable us to meet practitioners and VET researchers of other disciplines, which in turn feeds back into the design of our research programme. It can also lead to interesting partnerships to trial and evaluate policy interventions that can only be implemented with the help of other organisations. We are very happy to receive comments and suggestions on our activities and research, which can be sent to cver@lse.ac.uk.

Article by Ian Preston, Andrew Street, Claudia Hupkau, David Chivers, Peter Beresford and Simon BurgessThe Conversation's Manifesto Check, where academics subject each party's election manifesto to unbiased, expert scrutiny. Here is what our experts had to say about the Liberal Democrats' top policies.

Claudia Hupkau, Research Associate at the LSE
The Liberal Democrats have announced their vision for skills policy over the next parliament in their election manifesto. The proposals mainly focus on increasing the number of apprenticeships, and on the future funding for the skills sector.

This article was published in The Conversation on April 17, 2015
Link to article here

Article by Sandra McNally
The Conservative Party manifesto makes the following commitments in the area of school-age education:

•A good primary school place for your child with zero tolerance for failure.
•Turn every failing and coasting secondary school into an academy and deliver free schools for parents and communities that want them.
•Help teachers to make Britain the best country in the world for developing maths, engineering, science and computing skills.

The party's ''plan of action'' revolves around the curriculum, school structures (academies and free schools), funding and teachers.

This article was published by The Conversation on April 16, 2015
Link to article here

Article by Claudia HupkauThe Conversation's Manifesto Check deploys academic expertise to scrutinise the parties' plans.
The Liberal Democrats have announced their vision for skills policy over the next parliament in their election manifesto. The proposals mainly focus on increasing the number of apprenticeships, and on the future funding for the skills sector.

This article was posted online by The Conversation on April 15, 2015
Link to article here

Article by Hilary SteedmanWelcome to The Conversation's Manifesto Check, where academics from across the UK subject each party's manifesto to unbiased, expert scrutiny.
The Conservative manifesto skates over some uncomfortable truths about the development of apprenticeship during their last five years in office. True, as stated in the manifesto, 2.2 million new apprenticeships (apprenticeship starts) were registered between 2009/10 and 2013/14. However, of those starting an apprenticeship in this period, 850,000 were adults aged 25 or over.

This article was posted by The Conversation on April 15, 2015
Link to article here

The Conversation's Manifesto Check, where academics subject each party's election manifesto to unbiased, expert scrutiny. Here is what our experts had to say about the Conservative's top policies.

Hilary Steedman, Senior Research Associate at London School of Economics and Political Science

The Conservatives' manifesto skates over some uncomfortable truths about the development of apprenticeship during their last five years in office. True, as stated in the manifesto, 2.2 million new apprenticeships (apprenticeship starts) were registered between 2009/10 and 2013/14. However, of those starting an apprenticeship in this period, 850,000 were adults aged 25 or over.

In fact, the coalition government presided over and encouraged a huge increase in adult apprenticeships while numbers of 16-18 year olds in apprenticeship barely changed year on year. Most of those on adult apprenticeships were already in employment and a House of Commons Select Committeefound that many adult apprenticeships offered poor value for money. It is, therefore, depressing to see a bland promise of apprenticeship numbers trumpeted in the manifesto - 3 million over the next five years - with no preference for young people and no commitment to higher quality.

Sandra McNally, Research Associate at London School of Economics and Political Science

On the curriculum, the Conservatives emphasise learning of the basic skills of literacy and numeracy in primary schools, and in secondary schools (where this fails). They are right to prioritise these areas. Inadequate literacy and numeracy is a problem for about a fifth of the adult population, and those aged 16-24 perform worse than those aged 55-65 (unlike in most other countries). Partly as a result, establishing basic literacy and numeracy leads to a high earnings return in later life.

Whether or not changing the curriculum will actually improve in these basic skills is another matter.

Article by Maria Goddard, Anand Menon, Christine Merrell, Claudia Hupkau, Hilary Steedman, Ian Preston, Jonathan Perraton and Steve HigginsWelcome to The Conversation's Manifesto Check, where academics subject each party's election manifesto to unbiased, expert scrutiny. Here is what our experts had to say about Labour's top policies. Follow the links for further analysis.

Hilary Steedman, Senior Research Associate at London School of Economics and Political Science
Labour's election manifesto promises four initiatives in the area of skills and apprenticeships; the Compulsory Jobs Guarantee, the Apprenticeship Guarantee, the Youth Allowance, and the Technical Baccalaureate. It is not clear whether the party's priority is to cut the benefits bill and take young people off the unemployment register, or to ensure that all young people gain the skills and experience they need to make the transition to a job with a future. Ultimately, Labour's skills policy is a disappointing muddle.

Claudia Hupkau, Research Associate at London School of Economics and Political Science
In its manifesto, Labour proposes a Technical Baccalaureate - but actually, this already exists. It was announced in 2013 by the Department for Education and then-Skills Minister Mathew Hancock. But rather than being a separate qualification it was designed as a measure to use in performance tables.

Hilary Steedman, London School of Economics and Political Science
Labour's election manifesto promises four initiatives in the area of skills and apprenticeships; the Compulsory Jobs Guarantee, the Apprenticeship Guarantee, the Youth Allowance, and the Technical Baccalaureate. It is not clear whether the party's priority is to cut the benefits bill and take young people off the unemployment register, or to ensure that all young people gain the skills and experience they need to make the transition to a job with a future. Ultimately, Labour's skills policy is a disappointing muddle.

Claudia Hupkau, Research Associate at London School of Economics and Political Science
In its manifesto, Labour proposes a Technical Baccalaureate - but actually, this already exists. It was announced in 2013 by the Department for Education and then-Skills Minister Mathew Hancock. But rather than being a separate qualification it was designed as a measure to use in performance tables.

This article was posted online by The Conversation on April 13, 2015
Link to article here

As the election period officially begins FE Week spoke to figures across the sector to ask them what three FE and skills questions they'd like answered by the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats in the run up to the general election on May 7 - as well as a bonus question on a subject of their choice.

Dr Sandra McNally, director of the Centre for Vocational Education Research at the London School of Economics:

What three FE and skills questions would you like politicians to answer before the election?

By how much would you cut the adult skills' budget?

What measures will you introduce to improve basic skills in the working age population?

How do you think the quality of apprenticeship programmes should be monitored?

A new £3m project aimed at researching new ideas for FE will be based at the London School of Economics (LSE).

Skills Minister Nick Boles will today announce that a new Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) will be led by Dr Sandra McNally from the LSE and based at its Centre for Economic Performance.

This article was published in FE Week on 24 March 2015
Link to article here

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